No one knows the breadth of children’s developing imaginations better than the educators who work to enrich them day after day. And one of the best ways to expand young minds is with picture books. Ezra Jack Keats continues to be a classroom favorite, from his virtually wordless books of animals’ antics to his stories of city kids growing up. A great deal has been written about Keats and about teaching Keats in the classroom. In addition to his many books, there are biographies, curriculum guides and articles available in the library and on the web.

Below are various sources of information about Ezra, including ways to incorporate his work into the school curriculum. If you know of resources that are not included here, or if you would like to share your own Keats-related lesson plans, we would love to see them. We cannot promise to post everything we receive, but we will be happy to respond to your ideas.

A Gallery of Outstanding Minigrant Programs

Selected stellar Minigrant projects funded by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation

Biographies

A Memory, by Martin Pope, President of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation

Biography for Beginners: All Authors, edited by Laurie Lanzen Harris. Favorable Impressions Publishers, 2005

Children’s Illustrators: Ezra Jack Keats, by Jill C. Wheeler. ABDO Publishing Co., 2005

Children’s Literature Review, Vol. 35, pp. 82-143. Gale Research, Inc., 1995

Ezra Jack Keats, Artist and Picture Book Maker, by Brian Alderson. Pelican Press, 1994

Ezra Jack Keats: A Bibliography and Catalogue, by Brian Alderson. Pelican Press, 2002

Ezra Jack Keats: A Biography with Illustrations, by Dean Engel and Florence Freedman. Silver Moon Press, 1995

Ezra Jack Keats: Picture Book Author of the Month, Greenville (Rhode Island) Public Library website

Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults: A Selection of Sketches from Something About the Author, Vol. 3, G-J, edited by Laurie Collier and Joyce Nakamura, Gale Research, Inc., 1993

Curriculum Guides

LearnNC (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Education)
Critical Thinking and Art with The Snowy Day, by Caryn Levy (grade 1)
Learning About Ezra Jack Keats, by Brittany Basinger, Jenny Conine and Vicki McMillan (grade 1)
Sensing the World Around Us, by Libby Oxenfeld (grade K)

Read Write Think: International Reading Association
Creative Problem-Solving with Ezra Jack Keats (grades K-2)

Scholastic.com
Lesson plans for a variety of Keats books
The Snowy Day Discussion Guide
The Snowy Day Science Lesson

School Library Journal Online

I Wanna Be Like Keats, by Kimberly Taylor-DiLeva, 2003
A school library’s writing club turns kids into authors and artists

Southwest Children’s Literature
Clementina’s Cactus: In the Classroom/Library (grades 6-8)

Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute
Literature and Art Through Our Eyes: The African American Children, by Patrice Flynn

Selected Articles

Celebrate Ezra Jack Keats, by Carolyn S. Brodie. School Library Media Activities Monthly, Vol. 19, Issue 7, 2003

From Sambo to Stevie: African-Americans in Picture Books, by Emily Casden. Thejewishmuseum.org, 2011

John Henry: Then and Now, by W. Nikola-Lisa. African American Review, Vol. 32, Issue 1, 1998

Letters, Twigs, Hats, and Peter’s Chair: Object Play in the Picture Books of Ezra Jack Keats, by W. Nikola-Lisa. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009

The Enduring Charm of Children’s Books, by Barbara Elleman. American Libraries, Vol. 26, Issue 7, 1995

The Man Who Became Keats, by Pat Cummings. School Library Journal, Vol. 47, Issue 5, 2001

The Many Rewards of Bookmaking, by Lillie Pope, Educational Director of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation

Selected Websites

De Grummond Children’s Literature Collection
This preeminent library, at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, houses the complete archives of Ezra Jack Keats

EJK Film Festival
Video shorts featured on our website highlighting 12 Keats books, plus links to related activities and information

Sites for Teachers
Hundreds of websites ranked by popularity

The Jewish Museum
Articles relating to the exhibition “The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats,” September 2011-January 2012

Wikipedia
Ezra Jack Keats
The Snowy Day

Teaching Reading – Books by Dr. Lillie Pope

Teach Anyone to Read: The No-Nonsense Guide
Wordplay: A Dictionary of Idioms
Special Needs: Special Answers (co-authored with Deborah Edel and Abraham Haklay)